This seems unintuitive as I would expect one electron by itself to be more closely attracted to a positive nucleus instead of when there are two or more fighting to remain in "orbit".

Your definition would make sense to me if you can think of electrons adding to an over all single electrical charge instead of individual electrons, but in that case, I have to ask, what is the original reason a single electron is repulsed by the atom. I.E. why does it stay so far away until more electrons are added. What is the force keeping electrons from falling into the nucleus in the first place and have an "orbital" or "cloud" at its set distance (like one Angstrom or Bohr)?